Waugh, Harry McMaster Tickell
Deceased
Harry McMaster Tickell Waugh
Demographics
3y, male
Date of death
2013-11-04
Finding date
2015-01-23
Cause of death
Massive cerebral trauma due to multiple fractures of the skull due to crush injury to the skull from motor vehicle accident
AI-generated summary
A three-year-old boy died after being run over by a reversing vehicle on a rural property. The child exited an unrestrained car seat while the driver refuelled the vehicle 50 metres away, likely accessing the front passenger door and moving to the rear or side of the vehicle. The driver relied solely on a reversing camera which had a severely restricted field of view—unable to detect objects closer than 90 centimetres behind the vehicle. The driver did not look over her shoulder, check mirrors, or visually confirm the child's presence before reversing slowly over 5.9 metres. Key preventable factors included: failure to maintain child restraint, assuming child locks were engaged without verification, inattention during refuelling, over-reliance on camera with no awareness of its limitations, and failure to perform basic visual checks before reversing. The coroner recommended extending legislative requirements for child restraints to all vehicle movement including off-road, driver education about camera limitations, audible reversing alarms, and dashboard indicators for child lock status.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Error types
Contributing factors
- Child not restrained in child seat
- Child seat not secured with straps
- Driver did not verify child lock engagement before trip
- One rear child lock not activated
- Driver did not visually confirm child's presence before reversing
- Driver relied solely on rear view camera without awareness of its limitations
- Driver did not look over shoulder before reversing
- Driver did not check side mirrors
- Driver did not speak to or call out to child
- Rear view camera had severely restricted field of view unable to detect objects within 90 centimetres
- No audible alarm system to alert driver
- Child able to exit vehicle and access tool kit
- Child able to move from rear to front seat
- Driver inattention during refuelling
- Driver assumption child would remain in vehicle without verification
Coroner's recommendations
- Legislative requirement to restrain children in age appropriate child restraints be extended to include all circumstances where the child is in a motor vehicle which is moving, irrespective of whether or not the vehicle is on a road
- Appropriate authorities issue safety warnings and education to inform drivers that rear vision mirrors may not provide a full range view behind vehicles and caution should be exercised without over-reliance on these cameras
- Addition of audible reverse alarms to improve safety for small children
- Dashboard indicators that child locks in rear seats were on/off to assist drivers and be considered in the design of new vehicles
Full text
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Source and disclaimer
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